NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) 鈥� Less than a week after a local Tennessee school board attracted national attention for about the Holocaust, Gov. Bill Lee went public with a push for more scrutiny of school libraries so students consume 鈥渁ge appropriate鈥� content.
鈥淲e are proposing a new law that will ensure parents know what materials are available to students in their libraries," Lee said during his to the Republican-controlled Legislature. "This law will also create greater accountability at the local level so parents are empowered to make sure content is age-appropriate.鈥�
The Republican's remarks echo sentiments of the exposure of children to certain books, particularly those that touch on structural racism and LGBTQ issues.
Most recently, Republican governors in South Carolina and called on superintendents to perform a systemic review of 鈥渋nappropriate鈥� materials in their states鈥� schools.
Defining what's inappropriate is where things get complicated. Opponents say the efforts are political and smack of an effort to intimidate certain communities, with the careful assessment of content best left to professional educators and librarians.
In Tennessee, the debate has simmered for months as the state's education agency finalizes how schools should enforce known as critical race theory 鈥� an academic framework about systemic racism that has become a catchall phrase for teaching about race in U.S. history.
That debate only became more inflamed when the McMinn County School Board decided last week to remove 鈥淢aus鈥� from its curriculum because of 鈥渋nappropriate language鈥� and an illustration of a nude woman, according to minutes from a board meeting. The illustration is actually a cartoon mouse, and the effort backfired in one sense, three decades after it won the 1992 Pulitzer Prize.
At a separate school board in the wealthy area of Williamson County, just south of Nashville, a conservative nonprofit group called Moms for Liberty has gained attention criticizing a range of materials that they say shouldn't be in schools.
And in January, country singer John Rich to his large following that he had met with the governor and Education Commissioner Penny Schwinn and was promised legislation would be introduced to 鈥渄eal with 鈥榣iterature鈥� that our kids are being exposed to containing obscene and pornographic content.鈥�
Several bills have already been filed this legislative session targeting school libraries including a proposal to remove any 鈥渙bscene materials or materials harmful to minors鈥� from public school libraries. Librarians across the state say such restrictions are already in place, countering that the latest trend aims to censor certain topics and books.
鈥淭his is an effort to intimidate us to not buy controversial books and they鈥檙e trying to intimidate us to not speak out about these laws,鈥� said Bryan Jones with the Tennessee Library Association. 鈥淢uch like the critical race theory debate, this bill obscures the truth. There鈥檚 no pornography in school libraries.鈥�
Meanwhile, a separate bill would ban schools from using textbooks or materials that 鈥減romote, normalize, support, or address lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT) issues or lifestyles.鈥� The bill applies not only to curriculum but also materials that could be found in a school library. Last year, lawmakers approved legislation that of any instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity and let them opt their student out.
Lee, who is running for reelection this year, has filed a separate bill that would require school libraries to post their contents online and regularly review their policies to make sure the materials are 鈥渁ge-appropriate" and 鈥渟uitable鈥� for the children accessing them.
The bill was filed Monday, but with the governor's backing, it's likely to pass in the GOP-controlled General Assembly.
Librarians counter that many of these procedures already exist and have stressed the need for better resources and possibly adding a state library coordinator to promote literacy and education across the state.
鈥淪chool library catalogs are already accessible online and library collection development procedures are posted online, and reconsideration procedures exist to address concerns of parents," Lindsey Kimery, library services coordinator at Metro Nashville Public Schools, told lawmakers earlier this week.
Kimberlee Kruesi, The Associated Press
